Fugitive captured in Ozark admits bank theft

Mar. 5, 2013

Eddie Maher

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OZARK — Twenty years of running met an end Tuesday when a British fugitive who inspired urban legends pleaded guilty to stealing £1 million (approximately $1.57 million) in his native England.

Eddie Maher, 57, eluded British authorities for two decades after driving off in an armored van 1n 1993 with 30 sacks of cash. Maher assumed false identities and lived in the United States in that time but was arrested in Ozark on Feb. 9, 2012.

According to ITV News Reporter Malcolm Robertson, Maher entered a guilty plea in the Southwark Crown Court in London. He was sentenced to five years in an English prison for theft.

After the drive off in East Anglia, Maher left England for Boston with his wife and son Lee, who was 3years old at the time. In America, Maher lived under the alias of Stephen King and also used the name of his brother, Michael Maher.

Detective Inspector David Giles served as the primary investigator in the case for the Suffolk Constabulary.

“Over the years Edward Maher has almost been portrayed as a Robin Hood character, someone who stole from a bank, where no one was injured. Maher took on a position of significant trust working for a security company, a position he abused, resulting in the theft over £1million. This was undoubtedly a premeditated crime, which would have been planned over a number of weeks or months,” Giles said in a press release.

Maher reportedly lived in at least 11 different states with his wife, son Lee King and another son who is now 15. In England, the tale of Maher’s escape from the law earned him the nickname “Fast Eddie.”

“It was a huge story in our region (East Anglia) in 1993. One million pounds was a lot of money in those days and the robbery was in a quiet seaside town where there was little crime,” Robertson explained.

The tip to the Ozark Police Department came from Maher’s daughter-in-law.